O's rookie Young got advice from this teammate before near-perfecto

BALTIMORE -- Last Friday, Brandon Young delivered the pitching performance of his life. The Orioles’ rookie right-hander broke out with a near-perfect outing -- an eight-inning masterpiece in Houston during which he retired 24 of 25 Astros batters and came within four outs of throwing the 25th perfect game in AL/NL history.

Maybe it happened because Young learned from the struggles of his previous 10 MLB starts (a 6.70 ERA over 44 1/3 innings). Or perhaps it was the adrenaline the Lumberton, Texas, native felt knowing Daikin Park was filled with family members and friends.

But one of the most likely reasons? A video session Young had with Baltimore teammate Trevor Rogers three days earlier.

Before Young’s longest (and best) big league start came his shortest and one of his worst. On Aug. 9, he allowed six earned runs on six hits and two walks with only two strikeouts in a three-inning outing vs. the A’s at Camden Yards.

On Aug. 12 -- as the Orioles endured a 1-0 home loss to the Mariners -- Young approached Rogers and asked if the two could sit together in the first-base dugout, grab an iPad and dissect Young’s previous start. Neither was pitching, so there was plenty of time for the former Triple-A Norfolk teammates to chat.

“I had been talking to him for a while, wanted to go over my last outing with him and just pick up on what he would do in some situations, pick on some of his tendencies and just how he would execute some pitches and sequence guys up,” Young said. “He’s been doing it for a lot of years.”

Rogers was happy to help. But before they began -- and before Rogers later shared what was said -- he wanted to make a couple things clear.

“I think it was really important that I told him it wasn’t a stuff issue,” Rogers said. “His stuff is in a really good spot, that’s why he’s up here.”

Nor was Young struggling because the 27-year-old isn’t capable of locating his five-pitch mix.

“He has some of the best command I’ve ever seen,” Rogers said. “Like he can dot a gnat’s [behind] if he wants to.”

Rogers went over Young’s tough night against the A’s pitch by pitch. They watched all 93 pitches Young threw, to be exact, and they talked about all of them.

As it turns out, Rogers’ tips were similar to the exact approach the two took while dissecting video -- do a better job of taking each outing a pitch at a time, focusing on the best way to get a batter out (or to set up an out) without thinking too far ahead or dwelling on the past.

It’s advice Rogers once received himself from former Marlins pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre Jr., who overlapped with the 27-year-old southpaw in Miami for Rogers’ first five seasons (2020-24).

“[Young] has so much more of the strike zone to play with, and being aggressive in there, I think he just needed to see it with his eyes, that he didn’t need to be perfect,” Rogers said of Young. “Really control his misses going out of the strike zone, not trying to do too much with two strikes.

“I think the biggest thing was if you throw a ball off the plate, that still sets up the next pitch, unless it’s a really bad miss. But each pitch is always setting up the next pitch. I think he just needed that little bit of information that he otherwise didn’t have, and he took off with it.”

Young stayed calm and collected as he mowed through Houston’s lineup. He’ll try to replicate that success next time out, which will also be against the Astros (likely on Thursday). And he’ll also draw back on the “really beneficial” conversation with Rogers, if needed.

“I think it just instilled a little bit more confidence in myself and just to trust my stuff a little bit more,” Young said. “He’s just consistent, too. Try and replicate some of the stuff he’s doing, that’s all we’re trying to be, is consistent start to start and year to year.”

Although Rogers is only 279 days older than Young, he’s a six-year MLB veteran who has experienced highs (an All-Star nod and second-place finish in National League Rookie of the Year Award voting in 2021) and lows (a 7.11 ERA in four starts after being dealt to the Orioles at the ‘24 Trade Deadline).

Rogers is now Baltimore’s top starter -- his 1.41 ERA being the best through 12 outings by a starter in O’s history (since 1954) -- and a proven sounding board for others on the staff.

“I don’t want to be overbearing and be in their ear all the time, but I’m always open,” Rogers said. “If they come to me and they have questions, that’s part of the game that I love -- to share my knowledge and the success and the struggles that I’ve had and kind of my thought process on anything and kind of just slow it down for them, really.”

But one final thing Rogers wanted to make clear: He’s not taking any credit for Young’s near-perfecto.

“The performance he had last [Friday] was all him,” Rogers said. “He did an unbelievable job.”